1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to making precision cuts in catheters and guidewires. Specifically, a device for holding, advancing, rotating and then cutting a catheter or guidewire is provided which is able to manipulate the catheter or guidewire in two degrees of freedom to enable precision control of the location of the cuts. Various clamping mechanisms are provided for manipulating the catheter or guidewire, as well as mechanisms for wear detection of saw blades used to make the cuts resulting in controlled variation in mechanical properties.
2. State of the Art
Making cuts in catheters and guidewires requires precision in order to ensure reliability because of the medical applications in which they are used. However, it is also important to control costs of production so that costs to the health care industry can be minimized.
The state of the art is typified by such devices as grinding wires, wound coils, and lasers for making the cuts. But these devices often suffer from high cost or imprecise or difficult control mechanisms for properly positioning both the device to make the cut and the cylindrical object to be cut.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for making cuts in catheters and guidewires which allows precise control of characteristics of the cuts. This entails precision holding, advancement and rotation of the generally cylindrical object while at least one saw blade is itself advanced to make the cut and retracted afterward.